The Worldview of Thomas Berry: The Flourishing of the Earth Community

The Worldview of Thomas Berry: The Flourishing of the Earth Community

Yale University

About this course: Thomas Berry (1914-2009) was a historian of world religions and an early voice awakening moral sensibilities to the environmental crisis. He is known for articulating a “new story” of the universe that explores the implications of the evolutionary sciences and cultural traditions for creating a flourishing future.
This course investigates Berry’s life and thought in relation to the Journey of the Universe project. It draws on his books, articles, and recorded lectures to examine such ideas as: the New Story, the Great Work, and the emerging Ecozoic era. The course explores Berry’s insights into cosmology as a context for locating the human in a dynamic unfolding universe and thus participating in the creative work of our times. In particular, we will examine Berry’s reflections on renewal and reform in the areas of ecology, economics, education, spirituality, and the arts.
Course Rationale:
Thomas Berry was an original, creative, and comprehensive thinker, especially regarding the critical nature of our global environmental crisis. His intellectual importance resides in his response to the ecological crisis by bringing together the humanities and science in an evolutionary narrative. In addition, he articulated the need for the moral participation of the world religions in addressing environmental issues. He came to this realization largely through his study of cosmologies embedded within religious traditions. Sensing the significance of these stories as “functional cosmologies” he explored the widespread influence that these stories transmitted through a tradition, for example, in rituals, ethics, and subsistence practices.
Upcoming sessions
May 8, 2017 - June 26, 2017
June 5, 2017 - July 24, 2017
July 3, 2017 - August 21, 2017
July 31, 2017 - September 18, 2017
August 28, 2017 - October 16, 2017
September 25, 2017 - November 13, 2017

Who is this class for: This course is introductory and aimed at an educated public, ranging from those with college education to those without.
No prerequisite knowledge is needed - just an openness to learn about the complex development of the universe, Earth, and life. Within this epic story we will explore the role of humans given our present social and ecological challenges.

Welcome to The Worldview of Thomas Berry: the Flourishing of the Earth Community

Learn what this course is about, who's teaching it, and other ways you can explore this topic. Meet and greet your peers as well!

1 video, 5 readings

Reading: Course Description

Video: Course Introduction

Reading: Meet Your Instructional Team

Discussion Prompt: Introduce yourself!

Reading: Recommended Texts

Reading: Books of Thomas Berry

Reading: Additional Berry resources

Introduction - Thomas Berry as Cultural Historian

Mary Evelyn and John talk about their first encounters with Thomas Berry.

3 videos, 2 readings, 1 practice quiz

Reading: “Life and Thought: Introduction,” by J Grim and ME Tucker

Video: Dialogue: Tucker and Grim, “The Worldview of Thomas Berry”

Reading: Thomas Berry Website

Video: “Thomas Berry Speaks,” filmed by Marty Ostrow

Practice Quiz: Thomas Berry as a Cultural Historian

Video: Brian Swimme's Thomas Berry intro

Discussion Prompt: Discuss some of the early influences and struggles in Thomas Berry’s life and thought.

Graded: Introduction - Thomas Berry as Cultural Historian

WEEK 2

Thomas Berry’s Study of World Cultures and Religions

Thomas Berry was a scholar of Earth’s cultures; someone who inspired others to understand that the scientific story of the universe was a primary revelation, on the part with the world’s religions, and needing to be integrated with world’s cultures.

Reading: Chapter 12 in Thomas Berry: Selected Writings on the Earth Community

Reading: The Age of Reptiles Mural at Yale Peabody Museum

Practice Quiz: Cosmology and Ecology

Video: Thomas Berry and the Earth Community

Discussion Prompt: What is your "meadow experience"?

Graded: Cosmology and Ecology

WEEK 6

The Great Work and the Ecozoic Era

From a biological level, what is happening in our time is a recoding of Earth’s processes when natural selection is being overpowered by cultural selection, so that human decision has become geological in its reach. Thomas Berry summarized this by saying that the crucial task of our time is to reinvent the human species with the systems of Earth’s life by means of story and shared dream experience.

5 videos, 6 readings, 1 practice quiz

Video: (Part 1) “Thomas Berry Speaks on ‘The Great Work’”

Reading: Chapter 8 from Thomas Berry: Selected Writings on the Earth Community

Video: (Part 2) “Thomas Berry Speaks on ‘The Great Work’”

Reading: Chapter 9 from Thomas Berry: Selected Writings on the Earth Community

Video: (Part 3) “Thomas Berry Speaks on ‘The Great Work’”

Reading: Chapter 10 from Thomas Berry: Selected Writings on the Earth Community

Reading: Chapter 11 from Thomas Berry: Selected Writings on the Earth Community

Reading: Emerging Earth Community

Reading: Special Issue on The Great Work, (in Worldviews: Environment, Culture, and Religion)

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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Yale University

For more than 300 years, Yale University has inspired the minds that inspire the world. Based in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale brings people and ideas together for positive impact around the globe. A research university that focuses on students and encourages learning as an essential way of life, Yale is a place for connection, creativity, and innovation among cultures and across disciplines.

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Ratings and Reviews

Rated 4.6 out of 5 of 26 ratings

This was an eye opener and an amazing and inspiring experience for me. I couldn't wait to watch the videos and read the portions of the books, downloaded all the transcripts to read later again! I didn't know anything about Thomas Berry and had a sort of skepticism towards a catholic priest approach to environmentalism. But I was blown away by his amazing vision and open mind. I loved that the course is respectful of religious (and non religious) views. Thomas Berry simple but transformational experience in the meadow and his love and understanding of nature and nature's rights completely transformed my own thinking and approach to the Great Work ahead for each one of us. Just before completing the course I attended an Art of Mentoring experience and between these two, they sealed my commitment to the Great Work. Thank you!